Parliament attack: Nation remembers martyrs

Vice President Krishan Kant, Home Minister Lal Kishenchand Advani and Defence Minister George Fernandes led the nation on Friday in paying homage to the four Delhi Police personnel who laid their lives during Thursday's terror attack on Parliament.

After conducting the post-mortems, the bodies of Assistant Sub-Inspector Nanak Chand, Head Constable (Driver) Ghanshyam, ASI (Driver) Rampal Singh and Head Constable Om Prakash were brought to Security Line at Vinay Marg in South Delhi where wreaths were laid on them as a mark of respect.

The vice president was the first one to lay wreaths on the bodies of the martyrs, followed by the home minister, defence minister, Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office Vijay Goel and Delhi Police Commissioner Ajai Raj Sharma. The function was attended by a large number of police personnel and civilians.

Later, their bodies were sent to their respective village for funeral.

Meanwhile, in a touching gesture, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee met the security personnel in Parliament House, including its watch and ward staff, and expressed gratitude to them for foiling the terrorists' attempts.

Vajpayee went around meeting the securitymen and visited the camp of the Central Reserve Police Force located inside Parliament complex, complimenting them for exemplary courage.

"I have come here to congratulate the security personnel for the display of courage during the attack," Vajpayee told reporters after visiting the camp.

"While sacrificing their lives, they saved the parliamentarians and Parliament House. They are worthy of our congratulations and with this purpose I have come here," he said.

The prime minister felt the Lok Sabha, while condoling the death of the security personnel and the CPWD gardener on Friday, should have mentioned their names.

He said when a member of Parliament died, the House remembered him by name, and "we should have also recalled the names of the personnel who sacrificed their lives for protecting the Indian democracy".